Dive Brief:
- The number of global companies with both near-term climate goals and net-zero targets increased 61% year over year in 2025, the Science Based Targets initiative reported Thursday.
- The number of companies with climate targets validated by the organization — which ensures corporate and organizational targets align with leading climate science — increased 40% over the same time period, the April 9 report said.
- SBTi said that over 12,000 companies had validated their targets or committed to set them at the end of 2025. The target validation organization announced in January that it surpassed 10,000 companies with validated targets.
Dive Insight:
SBTi’s report tracking climate action trends and commitments comes as it continues to work on revising its Corporate Net-Zero standard. The number of organizations with climate targets has more than tripled since 2023, while the share of companies with commitments but no targets has decreased over the same period.
Of the 12,353 companies who had either a SBTi-validated target or commitment to set one by the end of 2025, only 21% of companies had made a commitment, down from 30% of companies with targets or commitments in 2024 and 40% of such companies in 2023.
SBTi stated in a report last year that companies with science-based climate targets experienced positive impacts to their corporate reputation, climate ambition and decarbonization pace. SBTi CEO David Kennedy said in an accompanying release that setting science-based targets “is a key lever for companies to manage transition risk and strengthen business resilience.”
“The data in this report shows that despite political headwinds, increasing numbers of companies in every region are setting science-based targets,” Kennedy said. “In doing so they are part of a market transformation that is good for business while contributing to achieving global climate objectives.”
The latest report also highlights the continuation of trends SBTi reported in 2025. These include increased target setting and validation by companies based in Asia — which continues to outpace other regions — and 53% growth in the cumulative companies with SBTi targets between 2024-2025. Europe remains the region with the most companies with validated targets.
The report also examined the proportion of companies listed in regional and global stock market indices and lists that have science-based targets or commitments. The Forbes Global 2000, a list of the world’s largest companies, is used as a benchmark, and 33% of companies on the list have set climate targets, and another 2% have commitments to set them.
French stock market index CAC 40 has the highest percentage of listed companies with climate targets, at 70%, with another 8% that have made commitments. Germany’s DAX 40 and the United Kingdom’s FTSE 1000 follow with 68% and 53%, respectively, of listed companies having set climate targets. The S&P 500 has the fifth-highest percentage of listed companies with climate targets — also behind Japan’s Nikkei 225 — with 39% of listed companies having set climate targets, according to the report.
Among companies with SBTi targets, the industrials sector still represents the industry with the most validated company targets. However, the number of companies with such targets grew faster last year in the health care, information technology and materials industries.
The number of health care companies with SBTi targets increased 76%, from 262 to 460; information technology companies with SBTi targets grew 48%, from 696 to 1,030; and materials saw a 43% growth in companies with SBTi targets, from 1,062 to 1,518. Industrials was the industry with the fourth-largest increase in commitments, with 41% growth. Companies in the materials sector now represent the industry with the second-most commitments, surpassing consumer discretionary spending.
